Search results for "Environmental Science"
showing 10 items of 15856 documents
Toward a Comprehensive Dam Monitoring: On-Site and Remote-Retrieved Forcing Factors and Resulting Displacements (GNSS and PS–InSAR)
2021
Many factors can influence the displacements of a dam, including water level variability and environmental temperatures, in addition to the dam composition. In this work, optical-based classification, thermal diachronic analysis, and a quasi-PS (Persistent Scatter) Interferometric SAR technique have been applied to determine both forcing factors and resulting displacements of the crest of the Castello dam (South Italy) over a one-year time period. The dataset includes Sentinel-1A images acquired in Interferometric Wide swath mode using the Terrain Observation with Progressive Scans SAR (TOPSAR); Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) thermal images, and Global Navigation Satellite System …
Planktic foraminiferal changes in the western Mediterranean Anthropocene
2021
The increase in anthropogenic induced warming over the last two centuries is impacting marine environment. Planktic foraminifera are a globally distributed calcifying marine zooplankton responding sensitively to changes in sea surface temperatures and interacting with the food web structure. Here, we study two high resolution multicore records from two western Mediterranean Sea regions (Alboran and Balearic basins), areas highly affected by both natural climate change and anthropogenic warming. Cores cover the time interval from the Medieval Climate Anomaly to present. Reconstructed sea surface temperatures are in good agreement with other results, tracing temperature changes through the Co…
Changes in SO2 Flux Regime at Mt. Etna Captured by Automatically Processed Ultraviolet Camera Data
2019
We used a one-year long SO2 flux record, which was obtained using a novel algorithm for real-time automatic processing of ultraviolet (UV) camera data, to characterize changes in degassing dynamics at the Mt. Etna volcano in 2016. These SO2 flux records, when combined with independent thermal and seismic evidence, allowed for capturing switches in activity from paroxysmal explosive eruptions to quiescent degassing. We found SO2 fluxes 1.5−2 times higher than the 2016 average (1588 tons/day) during the Etna’s May 16−25 eruptive paroxysmal activity, and mild but detectable SO2 flux increases more than one month before its onset. The SO2 flux typically peaked during a lava fo…
Pre- and syn-eruptive geochemistry of volcanic gases from Soufriere Hills of Montserrat, West Indies
1998
International audience; Soufriere Hills fumaroles contained magmaderived volatiles before and during the eruption initiated in 1995 but also preserved a typical and quite steady hydrothermal coinposition. Chemical changes due to increased boiling and a greater input of oxidizing magmatic gas occurred only at Galway's Soufriere, the most active fumarolic field. Hydrothermal buffering of the fumaroles has been favoured by their remote location (!-2 km) froin the eruptive vents and by a preferential degassing of the uprising magma through intrusive conduits under the crater. High temperature (720øC) gas collected froin the extruding lava dome in Feb. 1996 was chemically and isotopically repres…
Element variations in rhyolitic magma resulting from gas transport
2013
Tuffisite veins are glass-filled fractures formed when magma fragments during degassing within the conduit. These veins form transient channels through which exsolved gases can escape from magma. The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which chemical heterogeneity within the melt results from gas transport, and assess how this can be used to study magma degassing. Two tuffisite veins from contrasting rhyolitic eruptions at Torfajökull (Iceland) and Chaitén (Chile) were studied in detail. The tuffisite vein from Torfajökull is from a shallow dissected conduit (~70. ka) that fed a degassed lava flow, while the sample from Chaitén was a bomb ejected during the waning phases of …
Understanding volcanoes in the Vanuatu arc
2016
We report the first helium isotope survey of volcanic gases, hot springs and some olivine phenocrysts along the Vanuatu island arc, from Tanna in the south to Vanua Lava in the north. Low CO2 content and low He-3/He-4 ratios in thermal fluids of Epi (4.0 +/- 0.1 R-a), Efate (4.5 +/- 0.1 R-a) and Pentecost (5.3 +/- 0.5 R-a) islands coherently indicate reduced mantle gas leakage and crustal contamination by radiogenic helium on these extinct volcanic systems of the former (Pliocene) arc. Instead, presently active Vanuatu volcanoes display He-3/He-4 and C/He-3 ratios typical of subduction-related volcanic arcs: He-3/He-4 ratios range from 6.4 +/- 0.5 Ra in southernmost Tanna and 7.23 +/- 0.09 …
Antisana volcano: A representative andesitic volcano of the eastern cordillera of Ecuador: Petrography, chemistry, tephra and glacial stratigraphy
2017
Antisana volcano is representative of many active andesitic strato-volcanoes of Pleistocene age in Ecuador's Eastern Cordillera. This study represents the first modern geological and volcanological investigation of Antisana since the late 1890's; it also summarizes the present geochemical understanding of its genesis. The volcano's development includes the formation and destruction of two older edifices (Antisana I and II) during some 400 + ka. Antisana II suffered a sector collapse about 15,000 years ago which was followed by the birth and growth of Antisana III. During its short life Antisana III has generated >= 50 eruptions of small to medium intensity, often associated with andesitic t…
Sustaining persistent lava lakes: Observations from high-resolution gas measurements at Villarrica volcano, Chile
2016
International audience; Active lava lakes – as the exposed upper part of magmatic columns – are prime locations to investigate the conduit flow processes operating at active, degassing volcanoes. Persistent lava lakes require a constant influx of heat to sustain a molten state at the Earth's surface. Several mechanisms have been proposed to explain how such heat transfer can operate efficiently. These models make contrasting predictions with respect to the flow dynamics in volcanic conduits and should result in dissimilar volatile emissions at the surface. Here we look at high-frequency SO2 fluxes, plume composition, thermal emissions and aerial video footage from the Villarrica lava lake i…
Prodigious emission rates and magma degassing budget of major, trace and radioactive volatile species from Ambrym basaltic volcano, Vanuatu island Arc
2016
Abstract Ambrym volcano, in the Vanuatu arc, is one of the most active volcanoes of the Southwest Pacific region, where persistent lava lake and/or Strombolian activity sustains voluminous gas plume emissions. Here we report on the first comprehensive budget for the discharge of major, minor, trace and radioactive volatile species from Ambrym volcano, as well as the first data for volatiles dissolved in its basaltic magma (olivine-hosted melt inclusions). In situ MultiGAS analysis of H 2 O, CO 2 , SO 2 and H 2 S in crater rim emissions, coupled with filter-pack determination of SO 2 , halogens, stable and radioactive metals demonstrates a common magmatic source for volcanic gases emitted by…
Using mosses as biomonitors to study trace element emissions and their distribution in six different volcanic areas
2017
Volcanoes emit SO2, CO2, and H2S, but also trace elements gases and particles such as As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Sb. Active moss bag biomonitoring, an easy to apply and low budget method, was used to determine trace element release from volcanic areas of different geological context and climates. Exposure height variations (0.7â1.6 m above ground) due to different availability of natural tie points did not affect the results. Accumulation was linear for exposure durations from three days to nine weeks, so values were comparable by normalization to moss exposure time. Uncovered moss bags showed higher accumulation than co-exposed covered ones because of additional dust and wet deposit…